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Re: Pitch and dynamics

Author: oboeblank
Date: 2005-10-16 17:05

A couple points of clarification in response to 'someones' post.

I am using 440 as an arbitrary pitch standard. Of course the Berlin Philharmonic plays higher, as does the Montreal Symphony and when they play it is beautiful. Regardless of the pitch standard, if you play the most wonderful centered tone you can imagine you will be in tune; whether your pitch standard is 440 or 445.

My point of using a tuner was a little vague and I apologise. What I meant was that if you sit in front of your tuner you are training your eye to make a response to pitch and not your ear. We need to train our ear not eyes to play in tune. The other point I failed stress was that we must play in tune with others. If you play every note at 440 or what ever pitch standard this does not guarantee that everyone else in your ensemble is. The great orchestras play in tune, that is what distinguishes them as great orchestras; besides other things such as musicians and style etc... but if a player is locked into a rigid 44{?} pitch center that orchestra is going to sound out of tune. There are minute adjustments made to temper chords and intervals to make them sound in tune and ultimately part of a musical whole. We have all been in situations where we are called upon to play sharper or flater than we would like for the benefit of the groups intonation, and that flexibility comes from training your ear not eye.

I still stand by the statement: a beautiful tone is an in tune tone on the oboe. If you play notes and listen objectively to the tone you will know where certain note sit, either flat or sharp because of the 'colour' of the tone. Flabby is Flat, Shrill and thin Sharp; no matter what pitch standard you use.

Hope this offered some clarification.
I suspect the oboist was William Bennett on the recording of the Alpine Symphony with Bloomstedt and the San Francisco Symphony.

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Pitch and dynamics new

Arnoldstang

2005-10-14 16:28